We’ve just finished the demo for our very first home flip and to say we are eager to get started on the “building back up” process is an understatement!

Today I’m going to answer many of the questions that I received from you guys on Instagram with the hope of encouraging you all to take the leap if it’s something you’ve been wanting to do! Throughout this process, I’ll be talking about why we’ve made our decisions and a few of our future plans are for this house!

A few things about the house: It is 2,200 square feet and located in a nice, but older, neighborhood which is currently being revamped. There is a mixture of brand new, renovated homes, new builds and old homes. We looked for a very long time before we decided to make an offer.

My husband is a realtor (the best one I know!) and he did his due diligence in finding us a place that would return a large amount of equity while still allowing us to make drastic changes to the home.

The Guest Bath:

Why did you choose this specific house?:

The kitchen! That was my number one attraction to the home. It’s huge and had so much potential! We absolutely love to host people in our home and everyone always seems to gather in the kitchen, no matter what. So for the time that we live here, it will be a blessing to us.

And it’s, of course, a huge selling point for resale.

We also wanted a one-story, open floor plan because that is highly-desired in today’s market. Once we break out the two arches that go from the living room into the kitchen, it will create a smooth transition.

My husband looks at A LOT of homes every single day for his job and the one word he has used to describe this house is “rare”. And rare is exactly what we were looking for – we wanted something that would attract interest immediately once placed back on the market.

The Living Room:

How did you find someone you could trust with interior wall demolition?:

Funny story! We had hired that out initially with a licensed contractor, but my brother-in-law said that he knows how to do it. He is an architect and perfectionist and we’ve seen his own work on his house, so we said okay!

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous; he and Jesse are on their way as I type this to demo these walls, so I’m just praying really hard that it works out! haha – but seriously.

What don’t you like about the house?:

I like the backyard the least. Like really, really dislike it – haha.

It is multi-level and definitely not safe for the kids! We just had someone come and build up the block walls around the entire yard because we could have literally walked into our neighbor’s yards. I had a nightmare after we purchased it that our boys and dog both escaped lol.

But Jesse does have a vision for the yard, so I’m trusting the process. We have a lot of parks nearby and I’m thankful for that!

What have you found to be the most surprisingly expensive so far?:

We flipped our last house (it was move in ready, but we made a lot of renovations.) At that time, the lighting and hardware were the biggest shock to me. Door hinges and handles are really pricey!

I accounted for that this time around, but I would say that the labor and kitchen cabinets are overall the most expensive this time around.

We just ordered new, medium-grade cabinets and spent $8,600. That doesn’t include the hardware, either. Granted, we will have two islands and a lot of cabinet space, so they would be slightly more affordable for regular-sized kitchens.

Are you doing the work yourselves or have you hired people to do it?:

In our grand plan at the beginning of all of this, we wanted to hire this out because we are both so busy with our businesses and family already.

But as we started looking at our budget and receiving quotes (about $13,000 just for labor), we decided that we were going to take on as much as we could ourselves. We want to learn for the future, too!

We are planning to install the toilets, tub, shower, floors (aside from the carpet) and also do the backsplash and shower tiling.

How do you and your husband agree on the design?:

To be honest, he trusts me in this area entirely because it’s something that I really love to do. I am making about 95% of the design decisions. I had to earn his trust in the last house though, and that wasn’t so easy ;-).

At that time, I just showed him a lot of pictures to help explain what my vision was. And now, when I’m torn between something or hesitant as to whether or not he will like it, I go to him and ask him to choose between the two.

We’ve acknowledged from the beginning that we are a team and we both want the best for this house.

Because we’re in real estate, we feel like we do have an idea of what people like and what draws attention, so we are honing in on those things while still making it “ours.”

Here are a few inspo pictures that I’ve been working off of:

Who did you go to help figure out the designs?:

We ordered our cabinets through Lowe’s and our cabinet designer exceeded our expectations. He listened to everything we wanted and adjusted as necessary.

We also had Floor & Decor create a rendering (it’s free!) of the bathrooms so that I could fully visualize them before purchasing the tile. Overall, those stores were both a huge help.

But as for the rest of the house, I’m honestly just winging it and putting in things that I love! I figured that this is the time to take risks, since it isn’t my forever home, and to enjoy the process in doing what I enjoy.

For those who don’t enjoy design at all (or don’t have the time for it – because oh my word, it keeps me busy!), Modsy is an amazing and affordable asset to use! We used Modsy on our in-law’s guest bedroom andthe before and after photos are incredible.

The Master Bath

I still have a lot of questions left to answer, especially about finances and equity in the home. I will respond to those in the next post!

I plan to keep you all updated on this home renovation, fixer-upper journey, so make sure to subscribe to my mailing list to stay up-to-date on all of it! If you have any additional questions that you’d like for me to answer in my next post, comment below and I’ll do my best to answer them for you!

With Grace,

Lindsey

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Sparrows & Lily

Lindsey is a lifestyle blogger based in Albuquerque, NM. She has a passion for God, people, food and fashion. She started Sparrows + Lily to openly share the raw & real parts of life with the goal of encouraging others.